Kamen Rider Kuuga - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Amadam

“That’s the point where you’re supposed to hug her, shouldn’t that be obvious?”

Against Shuuichi Tsubaki’s matter-of-factly tone, Ichijou responded in frustration.

“Is that really all you can talk about? It’s impossible, I’m almost twice her age, you know?”

“You idiot, that’s exactly why it’s possible. If you’re that much older, it means you look composed throughout everything you do. Because of all the experience you’ve gone through, things that you just do ordinarily will end up looking amazing to her. As long as you’re not gay or homo or anything like that, you’ve got no reason to hesitate.”

“Alright, alright, I got it.”

“Seriously man, if things have gotten to that point, it’s pretty much common courtesy to hug her.”

“First I’ve heard of courtesy like that.”

Ichijou was regretting telling his best friend from high school the private elements of his time in Kyoto. Ichijou’s intentions were just to show how Mika, even though she was slightly intoxicated, remained passionate about dealing with the investigation. He always ends up making it about romantic relationships though, thought Ichijou, as he wryly smiled in his heart.

“You’re only saying this because you’ve never met Natsume-kun before. She’s not that kind of girl.”

“You know, you’re going to regret treating her like a little kid like that. She’s already 27, this Natsume-kun girl.”

“‘Personality doesn’t always change just from getting older. Just look at you, you’re still the same skirt chaser from your high school days!”

“How rude! I’ll have you know I’ve grown from an amateur skirt chaser to a professional one! Listen up, women who have gone past the age of 25 are anxious. If you date them for at least a year, the word ‘marriage’ is sure to come up. Tell her it’s still a bit soon, deepen your relationship, and eventually the two of you will be bounded together just like that. In a sense, it’s the point where you need to spoil them the most. That’s why you need to date Natsume-kun!”

“And just how the hell did you jump to that logic?”

“I just want to see how pitiful you’d look at a woman’s mercy.”

As they went about their meaningless banter, Tsubaki’s fingers were clattering over his laptop’s keyboard. On the screen displayed information regarding a corpse’s official autopsy. It was from the Tokyo Metropolitan Hospital’s medical records. Working at the Kantou Hospital as a physician, Shuuichi Tsubaki was one of Ichijou’s most valuable companions. 13 years ago, he served as a medical examiner in the Unidentified Lifeform homicide cases, figuring out their modus operandi from doing autopsies on the victims and pinpointing their cause of death. He also served as almost a personal physician for Godai after he obtained the ability to transform, even saving his life from danger on occasions. In some way or the other, it was a form of proof that Tsubaki had Ichijou’s complete trust.

They were both from the same hometown, first meeting all the way back in the year they were admitted into Aichi Prefecture’s Asahigaoka High School.The school was known for its freedom, being the only school in the prefecture that did not have a strict uniform policy. There was a wide deviation rate in terms of academic ability, and individuality was encouraged, with even dyed hair and piercings being allowed. Ichijou however, among his 3 years of attending, adhered to the school’s official rules and wore the proper uniform. On the other hand, Tsubaki was as much of a skirt chaser back then as he was now, and was quite popular with the female students in his own right. His academic achievements were top notch, and had top scores all throughout middle school. It was when he attended Asahigaoka that he first tasted the bitter defeat of getting second place, and the one who took first place away from him was none other than Ichijou.

After that, Tsubaki began considering Ichijou as his rival, and tried to compete with him whenever possible. Ichijou paid no attention to his strides, which only served to fuel his fire. By the first year’s autumn, Tsubaki had overtook him. Since then, they had a relationship of constantly overtaking each other, but because they felt that they would not ever get along, that relationship did not grow any closer than that. It was when they ended up being in the same class for the second year’s spring that that first changed. Their english teacher would constantly recommend a certain publisher in regards to English-Japanese dictionaries, to the point where he actually claimed that they might as well throw away any other ones they might own. Tsubaki, who was sitting in the very front of the class and had been using one of those “other” dictionaries, turned to face the garbage can that was on the other side of the room and threw the dictionary, with it landing inside perfectly. Just as Tsubaki was about to blame the teacher for making him do that, Ichijou stood up from his seat and went to throw away his dictionary as well. Seeing Ichijou so obediently follow his words, the teacher had no choice but to admit that he went too far.

That event was what caused them to get to know each other better. After finally giving a shot at talking to each other, they realized they actually had a lot in common. Things like their favorite picture book being “The Cat That Lived 1 Million Times”, them both being huge stamp collectors in the past, crying over shojo manga they borrowed from female classmates during middle school...they shared many unexpected interests. They also both moved to Tokyo when pursuing their university ambition. Their paths split apart when they became police officer and doctor, but both of them had broken the boundaries and became the top of their respective fields. Both the environments they grew up in and their personalities may have been very different, but perhaps they both moved along the same direction. If you ignore the chasing girls part, that is.

Ichijou, for one of the few times in his life, asked Tsubaki for a gigantic favor. He wanted him to secretly obtain the results of Kouichi Nakata’s official autopsy. Previously, Sugita had been investigating independently in regards to his suspicion over Nakata’s involvement in the oxygen capsule cases. Recently however, for whatever reason, information regarding him had become restricted.

“Apparently, Sugita was trying to hold off Nakata’s cremation. From what I’ve heard, Nakata’s corpse was actually burned before schedule. Something about it being more convenient for the funeral home, due to various circumstances.”

“Various circumstances, huh… We’ve got various things going on on my side too. We haven’t been getting any new information at all.”

“There’s no doubt about it then, someone’s holding the information back.”

“Yeah. It was the same with the Unidentified Lifeforms. Information regarding them wasn’t released to the public until long after the incidents. When things got really bad, it was pretty much the iron rule that info was to be spread AFTER the incident was settled.”

“The question here is, who is controlling the information, and for what purpose? Under normal circumstances, there’s no way that the Ministry of Public Security I’m working at wouldn’t have that kind of information on hand.”

“Yeah this is hopeless. I’ll have to contact an acquaintance of mine but, well, don’t expect much.”

“Please do.”

“More importantly…”

“Hm?”

“Isn’t this what you really wanted to talk to me about?”

The image displayed on Tsubaki’s monitor was the same one Mika had showed Ichijou earlier, depicting a white Kuuga.

“So you knew… What do you think of it?”

“Well, it’s really too blurry to tell for sure. It easily looks like something that could have been edited in by someone. Who knows, it might be another one of those copy-cat cases.”

“There’s been a lot of those in the past, but this is the first I’ve seen one of a white Kuuga.”

“Hmm… You have a point, you’d have to be a huge enthusiast for this one.”

“That’s the only thing that’s really caught my attention.”

“....White, huh.”

The color of the form Yusuke first transformed into… The white seemed to represent the Yusuke’s confusion and unfamiliarity of his body that he was going through. It was designated “Unidentified Lifeform No. 2”, and was considered the incomplete stage of the red Kuuga, Unidentified Lifeform No. 4, which was fit for battle. That is why when Kuuga changed into the different colors of blue, green, and purple in order to adapt to the evolution of his abilities, the police force simply referred to them as a different colored No. 4. There was a period of time where Kuuga had reverted to his white form but, because the police did not announce such information to the public, Ichijou had trouble believing that the average citizen would know about the white Kuuga’s return. But a picture of Kuuga has indeed appeared once again, and this time it was of the white Kuuga.

“If that Kuuga really is the man we know, that would mean his strength has weakened considerably.”

“Yeah.”

“I can believe in that possibility, right?”

“...What are you trying to say?”

“I still remember it clearly to this day. 13 years ago, after he defeated No. 0, you came here after a little while, right?”

“Right.”

“He was severely injured from that battle, but he miraculously recovered due to the Amadam’s power. He then went off on another adventure, saying farewell only to you, along with telling you to say goodbye to the rest for him.”

“Correct.”

“That’s a lie, isn’t it?”

Tsubaki locked onto Ichijou with a sharp gaze. Ichijou stared right back undauntedly. Only a few seconds had past, but it felt much longer to Ichijou.

“What makes you say that?”

“I remember I asked you a question at that time. ‘Do you think Godai is smiling right now?’ But you just looked out the window at the blue open sky with a complicated expression, ignoring my question.”

“That’s…”

“Normally you’d respond with something like ‘I sure hope so.’”

“.........”

“It’s ‘cause you’re honest to your core. That’s your weakness. That’s why I gave up on that guy. But since this image caught your attention, I’m going to assume that the possibility is there.”

“Yeah...the possibility is still there.”

Ichijou pulled out his heavy memories and began detailing them to Tsubaki. The memories of what had occurred at that snowstorm.

“Looks like the belt’s damage still hasn’t healed yet. That’s why...make sure to aim here if the time comes.”

Speaking with a gentle smile, Yusuke Godai pointed to his abdomen. In order to defeat No. 0, he had to wield the ultimate power. In the event that he would end up becoming “The being that brings about ultimate darkness”, Ichijou was to put him to rest by shooting nerve-breaking bullets into that area. Ichijou was fully prepared to pull the trigger if that time came. Ever since he swore to Head Chief Matsukura, saying “If anything happens, I will eliminate him”, Ichijou had determined his resolve.

Yusuke Godai, performing his final transformation into the black Kuuga, disappeared into the snowstorm. It was only for a moment, but Ichijou caught a clear glimpse of his eyes being red. That was proof that Godai had triumphed over the darkness and retained his sanity. Ichijou felt relieved, but at the same time his chest tightened. Despite the kind heart Godai had, he was to be forced to perform the ultimate slaughter.

Ichijou ran. With all his heart and mind, he ran. Godai will win. That’s what he believed. He wanted to see the moment No. 0 fell in battle, and he wanted to be able to embrace Godai… With only those feelings in mind, he ran into the silver forest, against the snow hitting his face and slowing his feet. Suddenly his field of vision opened up, as a wide field blurred by the snowstorm flew into his view. Seeing the sight of two bodies collapsed in the center, Ichijou understood that their struggle to the death had come to a close.

He did not lose that heart of his. Yusuke Godai remained himself to the very end. Within the snowstorm that blurred the difference between the very sky and earth, No. 0 was defeated and sunk into the snow.

“Godai…”

I was too late, thought Ichijou as he stood in place. Godai had fought with everyone’s hopes entrusted to him, yet Ichijou had not even been able to be there to embrace him with his warmth.

“GODAIIII!!!”

The moment Ichijou screamed out with all his might, a sudden gust whipped up the snow and obstructed his vision once more. Just how much distance separated the two of them. The more he struggled, the more violent the wind grew, at times stopping him from even taking another step. Upon finally reaching the center of the snowy plains, he found the corpse of No. 0 covered in snow, along with Godai being nowhere in sight. Ichijou desperately shoveled through the snow, but the snowstorm had erased any traces of where he could have gone. In the end, Ichijou was unable to find him.

“He probably didn’t want me to see him without his smile...that’s what I think.”

“So you kept everything to yourself in your heart, and told everyone that he had gone on another adventure.”

“Even now, I still check to see if any unknown bodies have been found in that area. As of right now, there hasn’t been anything to suggest the worst has happened.”

“And that’s why the possibility is still there, huh?”

Tsubaki returned his gaze towards the image resembling No. 2 displayed on his monitor.

“But if that’s the case, then it’s possible he’s come back to lose his smile once again...”

Ichijou reflected over Tsubaki’s words and remained silent for a while. His eyes then slowly returned to the monitor.

“After that, I’ve kept seeing the same dream over and over again.”

“Dream…?”

“Yes… It’s always at some faraway country, with children at a pure white beach. A blue sky and rolling waves…it was like a land of paradise. The children would be playing with each other in good fun, yet every time, something unexpected would happen and they end up fighting. Then that guy would run in carefreely with his backpack on, and begin juggling balls for them. His skill would impress them so much that smiles began slowly growing back onto their faces…”

Possibly being able to imagine the sight, Tsubaki began smiling as well.

“After seeing that, he would pass the balls to the children and throw them a thumbs-up with his extraordinary smile before departing for another journey…”

“...A dream, huh…”

“A dream…”

“...I see…”

Murmuring those words without looking at Ichijou, Tsubaki turned his eyes towards the blue sky outside the window.

“Well, there’s nothing else I can do, so come grab a bite with me.”

Accepting his offer, Ichijou joined Tsubaki in his car as he took him to his usual cafe. Ichijou felt a bit concerned over what Tsubaki meant by “there’s nothing else I can do”, but he was more surprised over Tsubaki’s car itself. 13 years ago, he was riding in a black Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible, a quite impressive looking vehicle, but this time it was an old sweet colored Fiat 500F. An antique from 1965, the small automobile was not even 3 meters long, lacking not only seatbelts but air conditioning as well. It was registered before the year 1969, so it was not affected by the seat belt requirement policies, but regardless, Ichijou could not help but be stricken with confusion over why Tsubaki would choose this specific car.

“It must be tough driving around in this old thing.”

“You idiot. These days, women love cars like these.”

“Oh really now.”

“It’s true that these cars take a lot more work. Smoke will randomly start coming out of the engine while driving, it can raise hell when stopping at a traffic light, and so on. But in regards to both cars and women, the more you have to work for it, the more valuable the love becomes.”

“...Well if that’s what you want, then I’m not going to say anything...”

As they chatted, Tsubaki eventually arrived at a street corner and stopped his car in a small parking lot. Tsubaki then brought Ichijou to a certain nearby establishment.

“Wait a second, this place is…”

“That’s right. Jounan University.”

“Weren’t you taking me to your usual cafe?”

“There’s this really high class cafe in this hall, that’s my usual cafe.”

Stepping into the cafe that had been recently built a couple years ago with an exceptionally tall ceiling, they caught the attention of a woman wearing an outfit comprising of an Ito Jakuchu t-shirt and a caribbean style maxi skirt, who stood up to greet them. Sporting a feminine short bob, she held a notepad and pencil, along with an ID card hanging from her neck that displayed the title of “Assistant Professor”. And the name following that title was…”Sakurako Sawatari”.

“Sawatari-san…!?”

“It’s been quite a while, Ichijou-san!”

“You haven’t changed at all, I see.”

“Really? Even if you’re just trying to flatter me, I’m happy to hear that!”

Laughing, her eyes took the same crescent shape as before. The only difference was that this time it looked more gentle, giving her a more mature atmosphere. The knowledge and experience she gained over the years was very apparent, she had aged magnificently.

“Nah, this guy has been horrible at flattery since I was with him in high school. He’s definitely being honest.”

“Then I’ll take you for your word and enjoy his compliment. Oh, that’s right, thank you for that meal earlier.”

“No no, any time.”

Ichijou shifted his eyes towards Tsubaki, with him responding by turning his eyes away in feigned ignorance. Is this guy seriously still going after Sawatari-san? But judging from the atmosphere, it doesn’t seem like he’s made much progress at all, thought Ichijou, as he read the situation. If they really had that kind of relationship, she would not have gone out of her way to thank him in a place like this. Regardless, Ichijou found the sight of Tsubaki in such a merry mood a bit cute.

“I really appreciate that the two of you took the time to come here for me today.”

“Eh? ...So it’s you who invited us?”

“Yes. I asked Tsubaki to take you here whenever you two had the chance.”

“Geez, what are you asking her for, Ichijou? I already told you why we were coming here.”

Ichijou finally understood what Tsubaki meant by the words “there’s nothing else I can do.”.

As they walked down the hallway with Sakurako, chimes of “Professor Sawatari” could be heard from various students passing by. And each time, she would stop and take the time to sincerely answer their questions. It was apparent that her students had both respect and affection for her.

“Oh, Professor! I watched that really old Lupin movie! That Fiat really was adorable! Are you still not planning to get one yourself?”

Hearing that female student’s words, Ichijou instantly understood the reasoning behind Tsubaki’s choice in vehicle. In the Lupin the 3rd anime’s feature film, directed by Hayao Miyazaki and shown in theaters over 30 years ago, the main character rode in a Fiat 500F.

“Hmm, after having someone show me the actual car, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to get one yet. The new model is pretty expensive too. Well, it’s not like it was something I was really going for anyway.”

Ichijou could sense Tsubaki deflating like a balloon after hearing those words and felt a bit sorry for him. Sakurako then bid farewell to her student and turned back to Ichijou, who instantly responded with a smile when their eyes met.

“You’ve become quite the mentor.”

“If it were up to me, I’d just stay in the research lab all day. Of course there’s no way I could actually do that, I have multiple lectures to give every week.”

Being a graduate student of the Archaeology Research Laboratory, Sakurako researched ancient characters. She met Yusuke at the university, and 13 years ago, the information she deciphered from the excavated artifacts from Kurougake Ruins proved to be extremely valuable in dealing with the Unidentified Lifeform cases. Thanks to her, Kuuga was able to change form and become stronger. Watching Sakurako as she walked in front of him, Ichijou thought about how much that small frame had to bear during that time. The fact that her ID card still displayed the surname “Sawatari” could be evidence that she still wanted to carry on her feelings from those days. As Ichijou reflected over all of this, he could not help but to continue to wish that she could continue to involve herself with the research that she loved so dearly.

They eventually reached the nostalgic Archaeology Research Laboratory. It was a place that Ichijou often visited along with Yusuke. The equipment and the computers have been replaced with new models, but the layout of the room, including the desk, had remained almost unchanged as if time had stopped in the room. Of course, the peculiar mask that Yusuke had brought over from his trip to some country had remained as well.

“A charm that shields against not only disaster, but luck with men as well, that mask.”

Sakurako smiled as she poured coffee into a siphon. Ichijou returned that smile with his own while he gazed at the overwhelming amount of documents scattered about the room. It appeared that the relationship between Shinano and Jounan University that started 13 years ago involving the excavated artifacts still continued, albeit at a snail’s pace. Their excavation team would bring any new artifacts to this laboratory, with Sakurako doing most of the examination.

“There are two reasons why I wanted to meet with you in person…”

Sakurako first showed Ichijou a photograph depicting the restored state of a stone monument.

“What’s this? I don’t exactly have any memory of this monument.”

“Yes, a couple years ago we discovered an unpublished thesis Professor Natsume had left behind. Using it as a basis, we did a reinvestigation and restored the excavated fragments into what it is now. Among the thesis, there was some fragmented words that caught my attention…”

Sakurako directed Ichijou and Tsubaki towards the desk, which displayed the translation results of an inscription. Towards the end of the sentence were two highlighted sections, “Coffin of Darkness” and “Coffin of Light”.

“Coffin of Darkness and Coffin of Light…”

“Yes, here is how the sentence would be read. ‘The Coffin of Darkness must be protected along with the great Coffin of Light. The Coffin of Darkness must not be forgotten.’”

Hearing those words, Tsubaki joined in the conversation.

“Coffin of Darkness… No. 0’s coffin was hidden under the great warrior Kuuga’s coffin, so wouldn’t it be telling us not to forget about that?”

“No, if I recall correctly, No. 0 was sealed under the earth. It had no coffin.”

“Is that so…”

“That’s right. After looking at this from another angle, I noticed something about the Linto word meaning ‘room’. It refers to a certain part of a building, but there might be more to it than that, seeing as how the word is even used when describing a building with only one room. The word itself appears to be derived from their word for ‘coffin’ as well.”

“So you’re saying that Kurougake Ruins itself may very well be that great Coffin of Light...and there may be another coffin elsewhere…”

Sakurako gave a small nod before continuing.

“Yes. There is the possibility that there may be a smaller set of ruins where Grongi are being sealed.”

Ichijou unconsciously met eyes with Tsubaki, but quickly turned away and grew quiet. The possibility that he had been so desperately trying to deny was about to become reality. There were about 200 Grongis sealed around the Kurougake Ruins. Even if it may be on a smaller scale, the idea that there may be unknown Grongis laying in some other ruins just waiting to be resurrected was terrifying.

“Wait, hold on.”

Those words came from Tsubaki.

“Back in the area where No. 40 first appeared, wasn’t there evidence of a huge slaughter of Unidentified Lifeforms? What was it that you wrote in your final report for that incident again?”

“It was but mere conjecture, but my theory was that No. 0 may have eliminated any Grongi that wasn’t qualified for participating in their games.”

“Taking into account No. 0’s overwhelming strength, I suppose it would be extremely unlikely that any Unidentified Lifeforms escaped from its wrath.”

“Right. That would mean that someone must have awakened slumbering Grongis that had not been resurrected yet.”

“Do you have any idea on who that someone could be?”

“...I can’t say that I don’t.”

The figure of that someone floated up clearly in the back of Ichijou’s head. The one whose chest had a bullet lodged in by Ichijou’s hand. Unidentified Lifeform No. B-1...the rose-tattooed woman. The fear that had been lurking deep in his heart since that day was close to becoming a reality. Seeing Ichijou remain in silence, Sakurako cut in hesitantly.

“Sorry to butt in, but…”

“...Oh, right, you said there were two reasons why you wanted us to see you.”

“Yes...please come with me.”

Ichijou and Tsubaki accompanied Sakurako out of the research lab. Exiting the Literature Department, they crossed an overpass that lead to the Agriculture Department, which had numerous greenhouses meant for research purposes lined up in the back. Research on pesticide-free crops and hydroponic cultivation was supposedly done here. Entering one of them and heading past the vegetation, they suddenly came across a raised-floor-style shed of an alarming height. The nameplate displayed the words “Administrator - Archaeology Research Laboratory”. Sakurako disengaged the electronic lock with her ID card, and the giant doors not unlike those of a Stevenson screen opened up, revealing the giant fossilized body of Kuuga’s partner laying silently.

“Gouram…”

Having not seen it for such a long time, Ichijou let out his voice without thinking. Gouram...an artificial lifeform with the form of a stag beetle, an artifact of the Linto’s advanced technology. The ancient language carved on its head read:

“Come, taking the form of a beetle, and serve as armor for the horse.”

Resurrecting as if to respond to the feelings of Yusuke who had become Kuuga, the Gouram treated the cutting-edge motorcycle bike Trychaser 2000 and its upgraded model, Beatchaser 2000, as the “horse” and fused with them. Outside of increasing its speed, it also served as protective armor and a means to float in the air. By itself, it helped Kuuga manage midair combat. After Yusuke had disappeared, it returned to its fossilized state and no longer gave off any signs of life. After detailed scientific analyses, it was returned to Jounan University two years ago. After sufficient research data was gathered from it, there were plans to donate it to a museum. However, due to Sakurako’s persistent demands, it was agreed to have the Gouram remain on campus grounds due to the history it had with it. Having seen the Gouram in action, Sakurako was unable to see it as just a fossil. The Gouram was about as large as a 3-meter long automobile, and Sakurako’s administration term was only to last for 2 years. She decided to take advantage of this time and do all she could for the Gouram, asking to have it be surrounded by the smell of the grass that it loves so that it could rest peacefully.

“Man, it sure has been a while since I’ve seen it...I forgot how big it was.”

Tsubaki came in and shoved himself in between Ichijou and Sakurako.

“Yes. At its current state, it weighs about 150 kilograms.”

“It’s that heavy!?”

Tsubaki purposely acted surprised in an exaggerated manner, but Ichijou brought the conversation back on track.

“More importantly, what was the second reason for bringing me here?”

“Right, well...the Gouram may have moved.”

“...It moved!?”

That was a shocking development. The Gouram was an artificial lifeform created by the Linto for the sole purpose of aiding the warrior Kuuga. It’s revival signified the return of the current Kuuga...Yusuke.

“It was about a month ago. The students of the Agriculture Department said that they had heard a sound coming from this shed… I went to check it out, and the Gouram had indeed slipped off its pedestal. But there’s been many earthquakes these past few years, so it’s possible that it could have slightly shifted its position bit by bit until finally losing its balance.”

Ichijou nodded, agreeing with that thought process.

“But I saw that image of the white Kuuga on the internet…”

“So you saw it too…”

“Yes...it was just about at the same time too…”

Sakurako brushed her hand across the Gouram’s head as if she was petting it, and continued on with a tinge of melancholy on her face.

“I...always assumed that the Amadam within Godai-kun would be something that would disappear some day after the fighting was over… I then recently indirectly asked Tsubaki-san about it, and he told me that the Amadam was something that fused with the organs and the nervous system, meaning that it wouldn’t be at all surprising for the Amadam to eventually restore itself on its own in about 10 years or so…”

“I’m sorry, I was just...answering honestly.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m glad you told me. Besides, I’m sure Godai-kun was already prepared for that happening… He even said himself that his body might continue to serve the purpose of battle until the day he dies…”

Ichijou, who had heard those words as well, shared Sakurako’s complicated feelings.

“After he fought for the first time back in Nagano...he fell into a slumber as if he had died… When he woke up and flashed me that familiar smile...I ended up telling him that I wanted him to come back to Tokyo, that I didn’t want him to transform and fight anymore… And then, his face suddenly grew serious for a moment. ‘It’d be nice if I could just go back to being just an adventure lover, I’m never going to get used to that sensation’, he said, clenching his fists… That’s why...I wanted him to just be an adventurer lover the next time we met…:

“I feel the same.”

Ichijou finally spoke. Matters kept moving towards an undesired direction. Ichijou wanted to continue believing that their reunion with that man would be under pleasant circumstances, but that belief had been falling apart.

Tsubaki left to the parking lot to bring the car over, as Ichijou and Sakurako slowly made their way to the back gate. Ichijou pondered over just how many times they must have walked together here along with Godai. Seeing how long the signature ivy vines that wrapped around the Literature Department building had grown, the reality of how much time had passed since then hit Ichijou deeply.

“I’m sorry...I had you come here only to end up informing you about all these ambiguous developments…”

“Nonsense. It’s our job to grasp the truth out of the mountain of information we gather, so if you figure out anything else, don’t hesitate to contact me.”

Continuing that fragmented back-and-forth, they eventually reached the back gate. Tsubaki came out of the parked Fiat 500F and came up to them as if he couldn’t wait any longer.

“Well then, I’ll be off.”

As if trying to outdo Ichijou’s courteous farewell, Tsubaki casually lifted one hand as he spoke.

“Goodbye Sakurako-san, hopefully we’ll see each other again soon.”

Then, as Tsubaki turned around elegantly and headed for his car, Sakurako stepped forward with a “Wait!”

“Yes?”

Tsubaki was the first to turn around, but Sakurako’s eyes were in Ichijou’s direction.

“If you happen to meet with Godai-kun, could you tell him something for me?”

“...What do you want me tell him?”

“...Tell him that security is tighter now, so I can’t leave the window to the research lab open like before...and I can’t be here all night anymore either, so don’t come during the night.”

Seeing Sakurako’s smile as she poured out her feelings into her words, Ichijou could not help but feel touched.

There are people waiting for you. It doesn’t matter if you can’t give them the same smile you made in the past. Everyone just wants to see you again. That’s all. If you’ve come back, why haven’t you shown yourself to us yet? Just what could be going on?

As Ichijou returned to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in Tsubaki’s car, those were the only thoughts that raced across the back of his mind.

“...I suppose there’s still no helping it, Godai…”

Ichijou suddenly murmured those words and looked up at the sky from behind the window. The blue that stretched as far as you could see. The more clear and blue it was, the farther away it felt.

“Ichijou-san! Where have you been?”

Upon returning to the Investigation Department 1st Office, Ichijou was immediately dragged away by his wrist as Mika, without even taking the time to explain what was going on, brought him to the small meeting room that formerly served as an investigations headquarters. Upon the numerous folding tables within the room lied piles of documents regarding the deaths caused by the anaphylactic shock incidents.

Immediately after returning from Kyoto, Mika had been coordinating with the jurisdiction in regards to thorough investigation involving the articles of the deceased. With data from the victims’ computers and cellphones being closely examined as well, she was doing all she could to find proof that connected to the cases.

“I just finished organizing the reports about 2 hours ago. To be honest, I really couldn’t wait any longer.”

“Sorry I took so long. Tsubaki had me visit Jounan University on little notice.”

“...Let me guess, you went to see Sakurako-san?”

“Oh, so you’ve been to see her there too.”

“Yes. She’s done a lot for me back then, and I often visited her in regards to continuing my father’s research. Although, I haven’t seen her at all since I joined the police force.”

“I see. I should’ve talked to her about you too, I suppose it slipped my mind.”

“It’s no problem. I haven’t been in contact with her at all for so long and I was having trouble writing to her, but now I have something to write about.”

“I’m not asking you to go see her, but she’s probably going to be more involved with our investigations in the future, so I’d recommend to at least send her your greetings.”

“Understood.”

“Well then, why don’t you tell me why you dragged me down here?”

“Oh, that’s right! We haven’t had any of this in a while, Ichijou-san!”

Mika threw out an enthusiastic thumbs-up, suggesting that significant progress had been made.

“Be sure to look over the reports thoroughly later. I’ll just explain the main points for now.”

While talking, Mika sat Ichijou in front of her computer. She was planning on showing him the data she obtained while she explained.

“Basically, Rin Togibe is definitely involved with the cases.”

“You sound pretty confident.”

“Everything’s come together.”

Ichijou was first shown a list of the victims. They were ordered by estimated time of death: Youichi Akashi, Shoudai Aoyama, Tooru Kimura, Mitsuoki Ariga, Ryou Minowa, Hiroki Tooyama, Akira Furubayashi, Shingo Kusakabe, Kiyo Watarai. 9 victims in total. By clicking the icons next to the victims, information regarding their rooms and related articles would be displayed.

“First things first. We confirmed that both Minowa and Kimura had posters and CDs in their room, correct? Then, we discovered that both Akashi and Aoyama had special cell phone straps affiliated with the Rin Togibe fan club. Next, we have the college students Ariga, Tooyama, and Kusakabe. These 3 all lived in dorms away from their family, so we were unable to get any information by asking them. However, after the families cleaned out the victims’ rooms, a significant amount of merchandise was discovered.

“And just like that, 7 people are confirmed to be adhering to your conclusion.”

“But it was from there on that it got tough.”

“48-year old Furubayashi-san and 74 year-old Watarai-san…”

“I’ve talked with Furubayashi-san’s family multiple times already, and not even the syllable ‘To’ in Rin Togibe came up. He also apparently gave off a strict and rigorous impression to others while he worked at an elementary school in Nagoya as the principal. I checked his computer to see if there was anything, but there wasn’t a single thing that suggested any affiliation. Again, I continued to ask his family if there was anything they knew, to the point where they scolded me for being so persistent.”

“It’s impressive that you kept going even after that.”

“I decided to change my point of view. To the red blue yellow pattern.”

She was referring to the theory that the targets were based on Rin Togibe’s debut single.

“Didn’t we agree that that was kind of reaching too hard?”

“We did, and it was perfectly natural to assume that. But it turns out that that wasn’t the case at all!”

Mika then showed Ichijou a picture depicting one of Rin Togibe’s handshake conferences. All the participants had name plates hanging from their necks. By having their name written on there, Rin would eventually call them up by that name for a handshake with her.

“Those plates also serve as an admission permit of sorts, so they’re always collected by the end of the event. If you look carefully at this image, you’ll see that some people aren’t using their real names. That’s why I used that point of view in further investigating the victims.”

“I see.”

“The first three names were pretty straightforward. ‘Aka(Red), Ao(Blue), Ki(yellow)’, right?”

Mika once again displayed the list of the victims, and upon clicking the column, the background color of the names changed to red, blue, and yellow respectively. She even put effort into the small details of her presentation.

“Next, is Ariga Mitsuoki-san, who apparently was often called ‘Akamitsu’ since his middle school days. You would think that ‘Arimitsu’ would be the more logical naming scheme, but there was actually a Mitsuteru Arita in the same class, so ‘Arimitsu’ was already taken.”

While Mika continued talking, she changed the background color of Ariga Mitsuoki to red.

“Next we have Minowa-san who was a fan of the comedian Okada-san from ‘Masuda Okada’. As such, he would often shout out ‘Minowao!’ when surprised, leading to him receiving the nickname ‘Wao’. Minowa himself would write this nickname using romanization.”

“So the ‘Ao’ of ‘Wao’, huh?”

“Yes!”

To be able to grasp a lead using trivial information was quite the feat.

“Now Tooyama-san would be yellow due to the ‘Ki’ in ‘Hiroki’, and we’ll skip Kimura-san for now. So now we’re at Shingo Kusakabe-san, and after looking into his name, I ran into this blog here.”

Displayed was a travel blog written by Kusakabe.

“Kusakabe-san loved transportation vehicles, including railroads and buses. These past years, he was really into boats, and had his blog name changed to the name of a boat that sailed to and from Shodoshima’s Kusakabe Port.”

Upon clicking the profile, a picture was displayed depicting a ship that travelled between Takamatsu and Shodoshima. Written on the bow of the ship in big letters was…

“‘BLUELINE’...”

The blog name had become ‘Blueline 45’. The ‘45’ is most likely based off his first name ‘Shingo’.(The name Shingo uses similar pronunciation as the numbers 4 and 5 in japanese, “Shi” and “Go” respectively) Including the ‘Ki’ from Kiyo Watarai-san, we now have 8 out of 9 of the victims following my theorized pattern. We can then assume that the 7th victim, Furubayashi-san, must have had some kind of nickname in relation to ‘Red’ or ‘Aki’, right? So I ended up asking his wife about it and…”

“And everything finally fell into place?”

“No, it was to no avail. His email address was a play on word on ‘Furubayashi’ to ‘Furudanaki’, and his official school blog simply had the title ‘Principal Blog’. I couldn’t find any unique names used at all…”

“...!”

“I eventually came to a stalemate, and ended up just staring at the name ‘Furubayashi’ on my desk… And that’s when Sugita-san came poking in going ‘Oh, Akai(Red) Tractor, huh?’”

“Akai Tractor…!”

“Of course, I responded with ‘What are you talking about?’”

“I see now… If you were to read the characters as ‘Kobayashi’ instead of ‘Furubayashi’, you would get ‘Akira Kobayashi’...!”

“I knew someone of your age would get it!”

Back in the 70’s, there was a famous star known as Akira Kobayashi, who was both a movie actor and a singer. In the year 1977, a song he sang for an agriculture machinery commercial titled “Akai Tractor” grew immensely popular. It would not be at all surprising if a nickname of similar sort existed.

“But nothing like that came up when you talked with his family, right?”

“Correct. But I used that realization as a clue. I abbreviated ‘Akai Tractor’ to ‘Aka Tora(first 2 characters of the japanese word for tractor)’ and used that as a keyword along with ‘Rin Togibe’ when searching on the internet.”

“And did anything come up?”

“Yes! A user that went by the handle ‘Akai Tractor’ came up! He was apparently one of Rin’s most hardcore fans, and was quite concerned over the fact that she had suddenly stopped posting new blog entries. After investigating the internet provider and IP address under Criminal Affairs Article 197, I discovered it was indeed Furubayashi-san. But that wasn’t the only thing I discovered.”

Mika clicked the star mark in Akira Furubayashi’s information column, revealing an image of a key.

“What’s this?”

“The key to a one-room apartment that had its address registered in his internet provider’s contract. It was found in one of his pants’ pockets, not even his family knew about its existence. The apartment is about a 7-minute walk away from the second-closest station from his workplace.”

The building displayed was on high ground, a place where you could enjoy the nice breeze. The room was only 30 square meters large, but because it was far from the center of the city, the rent was less than $500. For a man of his position to rent a place like this in secret, the average person would suspect that a lover would be involved. But upon further examining the photos taken of the room, Ichijou felt a bit shocked. The room was cluttered with almost exclusively Rin Togibe related merchandise, showing that it was a room dedicated to her. Dozens of Rin posters hanged on the walls carefully framed, and the bookshelves were crammed with magazines and gravure collections along with what appeared to be bluray video recordings. A large retractable screen was installed above the window that served the purpose of displaying Rin’s charm from a projector.

“Furubayashi-san kept this room a secret from everyone. It’s likely that this was the only place where he could fully express his feelings as Rin’s fan…”

“So that must be why he used an internet alias that not even his family knew about.”

“After talking with his mother, I learned that he was often teased with the name ‘Akai Tractor’ around the end of his elementary school years, and it seems that he resented that.”

“...Looks like the Red Blue Yellow pattern has come together perfectly.”

While speaking those words, Ichijou felt a slight pang of sorrow. All these nicknames and online handles of the victims served as small windows to fragments of their lives. To think that the simple innocence behind their origins eventually lead to their murder. But as if to sever off that sentimentality, Mika continued the topic.

“Do you what these things are? The things stacked in the corner of this room like a tower right here.”

“...CD’s?”

“Yes. They’re all first print editions of an album Rin released 3 months ago.”

“They’re all the same CD? There’s got to be more than 100 of them there, right?”

“I believe there were 108 of them.”

“Why so many of the same thing?”

“To get the ‘One Free Anything Ticket’”

“‘One Free Anything Ticket’?”

“As part of a national event, Rin had each first print edition CD come packaged with a ‘One Free Anything Ticket’. Not only would it allow you to shake hands with her, you’d be allowed to say whatever you want to her for one second. Plus it would all take place in a ‘Maid Booth’, to emulate the feeling of being alone with her.”

“Just 1 second?”

“If you talk fast enough, you could probably fit in about 8 words. Something like ‘I love you’ would be no problem.”

“Even so…”

“That’s why the most hardcore of fans who wanted to fully express their love would buy numerous copies of the same CD. 10 CDs would mean 10 seconds, 100 CDs would mean 100 seconds, and so on.”

“What a world we live in.”

“There has been some criticism over the campaign, such as it being too officious. Although on Rin Togibe’s official blog, she mentioned ‘One ticket per person please.’ She said that even one second would be enough for her to understand their love. Might as well have the tickets limited to one person each from the start then, right? But in response to that complaint, the record company simply stated ‘We have no intention to take away the right from those who desire them.’ ….Ahhh it just drives me nuts!”

“Now now, calm down. Why was it that you brought up the ‘One Free Anything Ticket’ in the first place?”

“Oh, that’s right, I’m sorry… So far, 8 of the victims had each purchased over 20 copies of this CD. Meaning…”

“They were in contact with Rin Togibe at the handshake conference for an extended period of time…”

“From Rin Togibe’s point of view, those people were the easiest targets for her. She’s apparently well known for staring into the eyes of her fans while shaking hands with them, so it’s without a doubt that she took that chance to materialize a jellyfish tentacle-like limb and sting them.”

At this point, Mika was dead set on Rin Togibe being a Grongi, the perpetrator behind the cases.

“But how did the 9th person, Kiyo Watarai-san, become one of the victims? She couldn’t have attended that handshake conference, right?”

“Correct. I couldn’t find anything about her coming into contact with Rin Togibe. I was at a complete loss. But Kiyo-san was indeed in Nagoya on the day of the event, so with my final shred of hope, I decided to visit Gifu early this morning.”

“You went to Gifu and made it back before noon!? I’m impressed you were even able to complete your report.”

“I finished about 80% of it on the way back on the bullet train.”

Expecting Ichijou’s surprise, Mika replied with a smile.

“Above all, it was really thanks to Matsukura-san that I got this far.”

“Matsukura-san?”

“Yes! The Matsukura-san that used to be the Head Chief Investigator. He’s apparently now working on ceramics in Nakatsugawa.”

Ichijou knew she must have heard about that from Sugita.

“I remembered that Kiyo-san’s son told me that she had friends who worked on ceramics too. I was hoping that if Matsukura-san knew them, then he could come with me so I wouldn’t feel too uncomfortable talking to them...and my decision turned out to be a success! By the time I arrived, all of Kiyo-san’s friends were gathered in one place, along with a really approachable atmosphere to boot!”

Not only was Ichijou taken aback by hearing Matsukura’s name come out from Mika’s mouth, he was also surprised at her boldness in asking a favor from a such a prominent senior whom she never even met before. Ichijou could not help but be impressed at seeing her recklessness pay off so well.

“On the day Kiyo-san and her friends visited the Toyko Tower, when they decided to head for Oosukannon, Kiyo-san suggested an idea saying ‘Since the weather’s so nice, how about we walk there?’”

“The distance between Tokyo Tower and Oosukannon is about 5 kilometers… I suppose it would have been no problem for someone who walked as much as Kiyo-san.”

“Upon arriving at Oosukannon, she realized she was hungry, and headed to a miso stew shop behind Banshoji. She then inadvertently passed the shop, causing everyone to shout after her telling her to stop. It was then that a girl with glasses came out of the shop and shouted after Kiyo-san too. And that girl was Rin Togibe, who had just left the handshake conference and was having a meal with her manager. Kiyo-san and her friends did not know about her, it was through photos that I had them confirm she was there.”

“Was there any direct contact between them?”

“Yes. After Rin Togibe learned that Kiyo-san and her friends had walked all the way from Tokyo Tower to the shop, she asked to shake their hands saying ‘I want to receive some of that energy you lovely ladies have.’ Apparently her handshake with Kiyo-san lasted the longest…”

“So after hearing the name ‘Kiyo-san’, she sought to complete the missing ‘yellow’ piece…(Ki is yellow in japanese) But why would she go out of her way to choose someone from a completely different place than the other 8 people, along with having no connections to them whatsoever?”

“According to Kusakabe-san’s Twitter, his turn at the handshake conference was scheduled towards the end. It’s possible that there weren’t any other fans at the event afterwards who had ‘Ki(Yellow)’ in their name.”

“...So she got Red Blue Yellow, Red Blue Yellow, and then wanted to finish up the last set?”

“It’s possible. Or perhaps she found that having just 8 people didn’t feel right.”

“Didn’t feel right?”

“Yes. For example, back when I was studying english in high school, I decided to have a goal of memorizing 10 words per day. Restaurants will also have ‘Meals Limited to 10’ events, but you never see ‘Limited to 11’ or ‘Limited to 9’ or anything like that. I believe that’s because we normally work on a decimal system, aka base 10.”

“Ah...so you’re saying she worked on a base 9 system!”

Ichijou recalled that the Grongi tribe used a base 9 numbering system. This was determined after the discovery of the abacus they used in their Gegeru slaughting games 13 years ago.

Putting that aside however, Ichijou was surprised at Mika even bringing that subject up. Understanding the basis behind the Grongi’s actions by taking into account their everyday mannerisms was a fantastic way to tackle the case, but the idea never occurred to him. The reasoning for that being that Ichijou saw the Grongi to be incomparable with the modern human. That thought process was taken to serve as a mental barrier against fighting those who took the form of humans as well.

However…

Ichijou was able to understand how Mika was able to take on a more human-like perspective in understanding the Grongi’s actions. A wave of discontent rippled through Ichijou’s chest. If the Grongi were to continue to become more and more human-like without boundary…

After night fell, Sugita came back from an investigation regarding a seperate case, and they began their counter-measure meeting. Attached on the top of the whiteboard in the room was a photo of Rin Togibe flashing a somewhat sublime smile. The large gap between the refined atmosphere her serious face and the innocence of her smiling face was just one of Rin Togibe’s traits that attributed to her charm. The more you looked at it, the more you doubted that it could belong to a Grongi.

“She’s so adorable though…”

Mika responded with an annoyed expression against Sugita’s remark.

“You really shouldn’t take someone lightly just because of a pretty face, Sugita-san.”

“Just look at her! You’re making a real scary face right now, you know.”

“Well that’s because-”

“You’ve got it wrong, Natsume-kun.”

Ichijou casually cut in.

“Out of our experiences with the Grongi, there have been many times where we determined unique characteristics out of their appearances and actions. Such as finding blood splatters on the walls of their homes, discovering dolls attached with unsettling ornaments, and for the most extreme cases...there was even a time where they ended up consuming one of our police dogs. And without exception, their eyes were always cold. They had eyes that suggested they did not have the same warm blood as us running through their veins. That’s why it’s so hard to believe that such a smile could belong to a Grongi.”

“But you agree that there’s no doubt about it, right? She came in contact with all the victims, they all died in the order she came in contact with them, and there was even a pattern that related to Rin Togibe when it came to the order of the victims.”

Mika then appeared as if she was going to hold her tongue for a moment, but lifted her face up and continued without hesitance.”

“Honestly speaking, I want to have a bullet put through her right this instance.”

As she muttered those words, her face drew to a ghastly expression. For a girl who had her father murdered by the Grongi, it was perfectly understandable that she was having trouble holding back the rage she had towards them. But sensing that there was darkness lurking behind her eyes, Ichijou instantly rebuked.

“You’re getting too ahead of yourself, Natsume-kun. While you have indeed gathered plenty of circumstantial evidence, without the essential proof that demonstrates that ‘Rin Togibe is an Unidentified Lifeform, all your deduction means nothing.”

“I’m not sure if we really have the room to act that leisurely.”

Out of her usual character, Mika lashed out. It was then that Sugita chimed in.

“She has a point. To be honest, I’ve been a bit anxious too. If Rin Togibe really is a Grongi, then the true game may very well start from here.”

“Don’t tell me you think so too, Sugita-san!?”

“What do you mean?”

Against the perplexed Ichijou, Sugita slapped his skinhead and began kneading it while he continued speaking.

“This is just what I heard from my daughter’s boyfriend, but our assumed basis for the pattern’s ruling, ‘Secret Signal’, supposedly has another indies label version.”

“Another version?”

“That’s right, Ichijou-san. Before Rin Togibe’s major debut, she released ‘Secret Signal’ under her company’s private label as a test run. Due to its sales exceeding their expectations, arrangements with major record companies were immediately made, and…”

“The ‘Secret Signal’ that released as her major debut had changes to the lyrics and arrangement, right?”

“Yes. The ‘Red Blue Yellow’ part of the song wasn’t included in it.”

“So you’re saying...the cases so far weren’t part of the real deal, but just a test run?”

“Yep. And if that’s the case, I have a feeling we can’t turn our eyes away from this.”

Pushed in front of Ichijou was a cutout from a sports newspaper. It was an article on Rin Togibe’s upcoming concert.

“Sunny Sunny, It’s 8 O’Clock GO!!”

The headline sprung out along with a picture of Rin dancing lively. Within a small space was detailed information regarding the first large scale concert of the Rin who has always taken great care in being able to be in contact with her fans. Along with the concert opening unusually early at 8 in the morning, Rin had requested that the amount of fans admitted be limited to 32805 people. She felt that it was a neat number to leave off at. This idea was associated with the keywords “SUNNY! 8 O’clock GO!!” back from her debut. On her blog, “32805”, her first entry consisted of the following:

Once I wake up in the morning, I always make sure to take a good look at the blue sky!

If it’s raining, then I imagine a blue sky in my heart!

Every morning at 8 o’clock, I pray for everyone’s happiness!

So, just like every other day, let’s GO!!

...And that’s why our keywords are “SUNNY! 8 O’clock GO!!”.

It’s kind of long so let’s shorten it to numbers.

Hmm… How about, “32805”?

Yep, now you see why I gave my blog this name.

Now, I’ve only just started, but I’ll be aiming for that number as my goal, so please cheer for me, everyone!

Now that that’s settled, let’s gather 32805 of us for my very first concert!

Uwah! I can’t wait!

(32805 can be read in japanese as “san ni hachi zero go”, “san ni” sounding like the word “sunny”, “hachi” being the japanese word for “8”, “zero” for “o’clock”, and so on.)

After Mika showed Ichijou that composition from the internet, he once again fell into bewilderment. It was much too different from the Grongis of the past. It appeared that Sugita’s unease increased as well, and spoke while looking over the documents Mika prepared regarding the Rin Togibe.

“Rin Togibe…real name, Manami Yamano. That name is registered on the census and a birth certificate exists. If we assume that the president of the Nakaken Company was indeed a Grongi, then that means it must have switched places with him at some point. That being the case, it might be that Rin was still herself at the time of writing this.

“It might be…”

Mika murmured those words with a lonely tone. But it was then that Ichijou cut in with a “No”.

“She must have already been a Grongi at this point.”

“!? What makes you say that?”

“This number right here.”

“Number? ‘32805’?”

“...Ah!”

“So you’ve realized it too, Natsume-kun?”

“Yes...it looks like it really was a neat number to leave off at…”

“Huh? You mean this ‘32805’?”

“That’s right. Try putting this base-10 number into a base-9 format.”

“Oh, base-9! ...And, how do you do that again?”

“First you divide the number by 9, and put the remainder as the first digit. Then divide it by 9 again, and put the remainder as the second digit. Then you divide it by 9 again…”

“Ahh forget it, just tell me what the result is.”

“Alright. 32805 in base-9 is...50000.”

“! ...It really is a crazy neat number to leave off at.”

“Right. So basically, a Grongi had already switched places with Rin at the time of her debut, and she already announced how many victims her game would involve when she put up the blog.”

Ichijou then put on his sternest face so far as he turned to speak to Sugita.

“As with Nakata’s case, we still do not have any decisive evidence that shows that a Grongi has switched places with her. But after assuming that Rin Togibe is a Grongi based on all the information we’ve gathered and inferred so far, the chance that the real game is to begin at the concert 3 days from now is quite high. Until that point, we must identify Rin Togibe as a Grongi and capture or eliminate her by any means necessary.”

“...But this one’s a really huge handful. It’s obvious that this Grongi has no intention of easily showing its true form like the ones from 13 years ago. At the very least, Rin Togibe has come into contact with her fans as a Grongi for a couple years by now. As a Grongi who should have been incompatible with humans.”

“Just what purpose…”

“Hmm?”

“Just what purpose would there be in going so far?”

In order to respond to Mika’s question, Ichijou seemed to dig for an answer.

“I don’t like putting it into words, but...it’s likely that she’s planning on slaughtering a massive amount of people all at once. Most likely in order to pull off the ultimate accomplishment.”

Both Mika and Sugita lost their words for a moment. Sugita bit his lips bitterly, while Mika did nothing to conceal her rage and murmured out while clenching her fists.

“...I won’t allow that to happen…”

“However, at this rate, worst case scenario is we won’t be able to do a single thing.”

Ichijou slightly dropped his gaze. That’s right. For the police officers who thought they would never have to be fight an Unidentified Lifeform again, a large wall that did not exist 13 years ago stood in front of them.

“The revised UL Law, huh…”

The UL Law. At first it existed to help deal with the sudden appearance of the Unidentified Lifeforms, allowing the average policemen to utilize heavy weaponry and specialized weapons. It was established for emergency situations detailed as following:

This countermeasure law exists to help deal with the attacks from the Unidentified Lifeforms that have appeared within Japan on January 30th, 2000.

Abbreviated as Anti-Unidentified Lifeform Countermeasure Law.

First Article - This law recognizes the threat to Japan’s safety and peace originating from the appearance of the Unidentified Lifeforms on January 30th, 2000, along with the need to assist the elimination of their indiscriminate slaughter activities. The following items represent the actions this law will take in regards to more proactively countering the activities that threaten the peace and safety of our country.

1 - The Definition of the Unidentified Lifeform

1. - The term Unidentified Lifeform refers to the lifeforms that appeared in Kuroukage Ruins on January 29th, 2000 that have soulstones within them, allowing them to biologically alter their cells, altering their forms to those that share multiple traits with many various flora and fauna. They are codenamed as Unidentified Lifeform No. X, X being the number designating the order in which they were discovered and identified. Unidentified Lifeforms who have their human form identified, the form they steal from other human beings to mask their identity, are registered as part of the B group, designated Unidentified Lifeform No. B-X.

2. - The Unidentified Lifeforms are creatures that differ from us human beings. As such, when dealing with their acts of slaughter and other criminal activity, any similarities to human beings should be ignored and treated as those of a wild animal.

-snip-

9 - Weapon Usage

1. - Along with the members of the Self-Defense Force, police officers are admitted the right to rationally determine when other members of their force are in need of assistance in regards to protecting their life and health, and to utilize the optimal weaponry to carry out this assistance using rational judgement.

2. Use of anti-Unidentified Lifeform weaponry is to be handled based on the situation at hand. For these cases, it is extremely important to consider the dangers behind causing harm to others or inviting chaos when utilizing such weaponry.

This law allowed police officers to use newly developed weaponry against the Unidentified Lifeforms when the situation called for it, and fire was allowed on those with human forms if they were determined to be Unidentified Lifeforms. Under this law, Ichijou and his fellow officers were able to corner the Unidentified Lifeforms and eradicate them thanks to the help of No. 4, Yusuke Godai. After the death of No. 0, the law was presumed to have finished its purpose, but it was kept in effect in the off chance that situations in need of it would arise. But 8 years later, as the memories of the average citizen regarding the Unidentified Lifeforms began to fade, this law was revised under unusual circumstances.

During one particular incident, a suspect was mistakenly determined to be an Unidentified Lifeform and was shot to death. The suspect was later examined and was revealed to be a human, causing the police officer that shot him to feel guilt over his actions and eventually commit suicide. After concern was expressed from a member of the bar association, the law was revised.

Supporting those changes was a human rights organization. Being that the Grongi possessed almost the same bodies and intelligence as humans, there was an opinion that such beings had the potential to have their mannerisms be corrected to the standards of human society, and that reasonable effort should be put into their rehabilitation. Perhaps it was because this outlook was suggested when the incidents were drawing to a close and peace was finally revisiting, but the support for more human-like treatment approach was overwhelming. The government party at the time recognized their voices and pursued changes to the law.

Thus, the cabinet decided that the contents of 9 - (2) were to be discontinued, with the terms scheduled to go out of effect on April 16, 2008 at 12:00 AM. The refined terms consist of the following:

(2) - In regards to the use of weapons against the Unidentified Lifeforms, actions must only be taken under the command of a superior officer at the scene, who will make appropriate judgements based on the situation at hand. It is the responsibility of the superior officer to understand the dangers behind causing harm to others or inviting chaos under the chance that a weapon may fall out of control.

(3) - In regards to the use of weapons, they must only be used when an Unidentified Lifeform has taken on a shape other than its human-like form. Furthermore, even if they have taken on a shape other than its human-like form, the usage of weapons is only allowed when imminent danger is at hand or during emergency situations. Otherwise, they are not to be harmed in anyway,

“...Man, that law sure saved our asses before it got revised.”

Sugita awakened distant memories. He was speaking to Ichijou, but at the same time spoke those words for Mika to hear.

“Even if you can’t sense any humanity from someone, you still can’t just shoot them if they look like a human. Even the SAT haven’t done anything like that for over 30 years now. It’s unthinkable in a place like Japan. It’d be like if someone handed you a gun like a 6-inch python, something you’d never see outside of a movie, and then tell you to shoot on sight. It might not have been perfect, but back then, we were able to shoot under the law if we determined that a human was an Unidentified Lifeform. But now...we might end up being tied up by that law.”

The Grongis used to be extremely aggressive and inhuman-like, meaning that they were much more likely to immediately change their forms and attack other humans when the police arrived. The higher-ups also were often very gung-ho when giving out orders to neutralize them. Once an Unidentified Lifeform was identified, permission to shoot would remain unchanged even if they, by the off chance, transformed back to their human form. For that reason, Ichijou was able to shoot the rose-tattooed woman No. B-1 freely.

“Anyway, you two will go see Rin Togibe directly at her concert tomorrow. I highly doubt the enemy is going to run or hide from a place like that. I’ll go see the higher-ups and have them recognize this as an official investigation and request for more officers to help assist us.”
 

“We’ll probably have to end up suspending the concert...we’ll have to think of a good reason to convince Rin Togibe to back off from the stage, don’t you think?”

Sugita glared at Mika in response to her proposal.

“Look, I get that you’re anxious, but doing anything pushy right now is only going to backfire on us right now. I feel like there’s some kind of intense pressure behind investigating the Unidentified Lifeforms this time around.”

Ichijou immediately reacted to those words.

“You’re talking about what happened with President Nakata’s corpse, right?”

“Well, yes, that’s definitely part of it. But I feel like there’s something out there even when I’m investigating other matters… Like some kind of great unknown being working behind the darkness....well that’s kind of an exaggeration, but I have no doubt that something’s out there.”

“A great unknown being…”

“Anyway, as of right now, this isn’t even a homicide case. The best we can do for now is to somehow corner Rin Togibe and force her to reveal her identity as an Unidentified Lifeform. And then shoot her with some nerve-breaking bullets…”

“Oh, that’s right, how’s the production of those bullets going.”

“I asked Ekonida earlier for an unofficial procurement. She said she’d produce renewal versions for us.”

“Within such a short time?”

“The old ones didn’t work on No. 46, remember? After hearing about that at the time, she apparently whipped up a draft for strengthening them. The project ended up getting terminated unfortunately, but now she’s taking this as a chance to revive it.”

“How reliable!”

Mika leaned forward in excitement.

“Ichijou-san, then I’ll go ahead and contact the fire department.”

“The fire department?”

“Yes! The fire department headquarters is located at Tokorozawa’s Seibu Dome, right? They do a lot of fancy fireworks and performances using fire there during baseball events, so they should at least be aware of the progress of the rehearsals at the concert!”

While talking, Mika immediately returned to her desk and began contacting various places.

“See? My eyes weren’t mistaken. I was right to bring her into this.”

Sugita spoke proudly as he slightly poked Ichijou’s arm with his elbow. It was true that Mika set her sights on Rin Togibe at an early stage of their investigation. She would notice things that people would normally never bat an eye at and show impressive perseverance in pursuing them. She even had Matsukura cooperate in a clever way, and she eventually almost completely proved that Rin Togibe was an Unidentified Lifeform. If they were only a couple days late in realizing that truth, they could have lost the chance to save over 30,000 people.

“She may have been a bit too overbearing at times, but I have to admit I’ve been surprised by her ability.”

Seeing Ichijou admit that so easily, Sugita added on to his statement.

“Actually, the higher-ups originally planned for her to be transferred to Boston to study abroad, but at the very last second she asked to be moved over here. You know, it might be that she’s got a sharp nose. For detectives, intuition and insight is extremely important. Try not to treat her like a child too much and just let her fly loose, yeah?”

Ichijou wholeheartedly agreed while Sugita pat his shoulders. But for some reason, Ichijou felt a strong weight behind that pat.

On the following day, with the just received Tokorozawa Fire Department Headquarters inquiry result in hand, Ichijou and Mika made their way to Rin Togibe’s agency.

“Ichijou-san, don’t you think this is a little suspicious?”

Mika was looking at the acrylic water tank that would be used in a performance that involved escaping from it. There were pumps on both sides of the tank that operated alongside a gauge that scored points. Rin would dress herself as Magician RIN Togibe, enter the water tank and close the lid. And then when the water starts filling up as she’s chained to the tank, she performs a wonderful escape! ...Which is what you would expect to happen but things end up not going that well. The audience then would begin doing the “RIN Togibe Call” in order to raise the gauge on the pumps, and upon the gauge filling up completely, the pumps would suck up all the water in the tank and scatter it across the audience as Rin is released. Everyone would get dripping wet, but the burning passion from all the singing would dry it up just like that! ...And that was the general idea. It was quite the bold move.

“But how would she utilize this contraption? With the handshake conference, she took the chance to momentarily materialize her feelers to inject nematocysts into her victims, but…”

“Maybe she’d release stingers into the water tank, so that it’ll disperse over the audience.”

“Even if we assumed that the stingers would be able to be dispersed that way, I’m not sure if they would do a very good job stinging the audience.”

“This is tough…”

Unable to arrive at a conclusion, the two eventually arrived at their destination.

“So, how should we attack?”

“We need to be cautious, but we can’t afford to take our time. Let’s throw a fastball.”

“Understood.”

Within the building looking down on the road with a fancy design lied Rin Togibe’s Agency. The walls were crowded with posters of Rin, and merchandise related to Rin such as DVDs, CDs, and photo albums filled your vision no matter where you looked. It was almost like if it was a museum. They had contacted the company president asking if he could help answer some questions to help in their case. The concert was very close to starting, so they asked to meet in person due to it being such a precarious timing. The company president then responded saying that he would do anything within his power to help cooperate. The woman that came out to greet them was the manager who handled Rin Togibe since her debut, Ogawa. She appeared to be a wise-looking woman in her late-30’s.

“To think that so many of Rin Togibe’s fans have passed away… I had no idea about this so I’m at a loss for words… Togibe herself has received e-mails and such that couldn’t be taken as anything other than death threats multiple times as well. These kinds of things are to be expected in a job like this, but I never imagined it would get so far…”

Ogawa grew silent. It was likely she was thinking about the crimes done by people who have expressed resentment towards Rin and her fans. With the victims of the hornet incidents all being fans of Rin, there was a lot of suspicion over whether or not it was murder.

“There’s also been a lot of nuisances going on such as stalkers that have really gotten me worrying. Would you like to see a list of the people we’ve marked down on our blacklist?”

“That’s fine, there’s no need. We’re pretty sure we’ve pinpointed the criminal.”

“...I see.”

Ogawa’s expression changed in a peculiar manner. Up to now she had been speaking to Ichijou looking straight at his face, but her eyes began to drop.

“To be frank, ‘criminal’ wouldn’t be the correct term, rather, it’s a potential homicide perpetrator, meaning it’s probably outside of the law’s reach right now.”

“...What do you mean?”

Mika caught sight of Ogawa’s face stiffening up for an instant. She then communicated that confirmation to Ichijou by exchanging looks with him, to which he then responded with a slight nod.

“We suspect that the homicide incidents have been the work of an Unidentified Lifeform.”

“Unidentified...Lifeform?”

“Yes, and the murders so far have only been the test stage… This has been the case for the Unidentified Lifeforms in the past as well. Their true goal involves a mass-murder on a much larger scale.”

“So you’re saying that…”

“The 32,805 individuals attending the concert...they’re the final target.”

Ogawa became silent for a while. It appeared that she was racing through her thoughts at a frantic speed. Ichijou and Mika waited patiently for her to respond. The words that finally came out of Ogawa’s mouth ended up being unexpected.

“That’s a lie!”

“Eh?”

“Those Unidentified…creatures were wiped out a long time ago, after all!”

“We are under the suspicion that there are still some that remain.”

“Do you have proof!? Has there been any witnesses!?”

Against Ogawa’s sudden change in attitude, Mika automatically drew forward.

“Excuse me, Ogawa-san, but don’t you think that you’re denying all of this too suddenly!?”

“Of course not! This is Rin Togibe’s...very first concert of her entire life! And you’re telling me to suspend it just because of your vague suspicions!?”

“Vague suspicions!? That’s-”

Ichijou restrained Mika, who had began raising her voice, and then looked at Ogawa with a calm demeanor.

“We’ve come here in order to to see if our suspicions are valid or not.”

“...!”

Ogawa gave off a fierce glare, but Ichijou continued calmly, undeterred.

“We would like to inspect Rin Togibe’s body.”

Ogawa’s pupils grew wide, but she continued to keep her composure and and her voice steady as she glared at Ichijou.

“...For what purpose?”

“We believe that Rin Togibe is an Unidentified Lifeform.”

“D-Don’t be ridiculous!

“Has Rin Togibe ever had any x-ray or CT scans?”

“S-She has not.”

“Does she have any tattoos on her body?”

“Of course she doesn’t! She’s an idol, remember!? Please refrain from making any more outlandish accusations!”

“They aren’t outlandish!”

Mika flared up.

“All the victims had come into contact with Rin Togibe at some point. And out of all her fans, the reason why only specific ones were targeted was because of Rin Togibe as well. If we assume that Rin Togibe is an Unidentifed Lifeform, everything comes together!”

Ogawa’s face grew pale, but she struck through her hesitation and threw her voice at Mika while glaring at her.

“Please leave! I do not have the time to deal with your nonsense stories!”

As Ichijou and Mika were forcibly being shoved out, the front door opened as a young smiling girl came in with a “Good morniiiiing!”

“Rin!?”

Ogawa’s voice was thick with panic. In contrast, Rin, who appeared much more dainty and gorgeous than any picture or video of her, was completely unfazed as she looked straight at Ichijou and Mika and properly introduced herself.

“Hi, I’m Rin Togibe! It’s so great to meet you!”

“I’m Ichijou, an officer of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Center.”

Ogawa then butted in to protect her.

“Why are you here!?”

Rin’s face then naturally transitioned to a heartrending expression, as she murmured to Ogawa as while looking down in shame.

“I heard about the cases....and it was a huge shock for me, so I thought I could help out and...things ended up like this and…”

Mika had been glaring at her the whole time throughout all of this. Ichijou was calmly observing. Rin then faced them with faintly teared up eyes and threw out a complaint.

“I’m not an Unidentified Lifeform or anything like that, okay!?”

“Of course you aren’t! Don’t worry, just let me do the talking, alright?”

Ogawa was desperately trying to embrace Rin, but Rin managed to push her away. She then looked at Ichijou and thrust out her right hand towards him.

“Shake my hand!”

“...!”

“My hand is warm, you know. If I was an Unidentified Lifeform, it’d probably be all cold, right?”

It was possible that she was planning to inject nematocysts with a handshake like she did with all the other victims. Mika nervously watched Ichijou. Ichijou took a good look at Rin’s eyes, and then confidently extended out his right hand as well. Her eyes unwavering, she gripped his hand with her own small one. It felt soft and warm. It was hard to think of her hand as anything but one of a typical young girl’s.

“It’s warm, right…? Detective.”

“It is.”

“Do you still not believe me?”

Rin’s face shifted to one of sorrow. For just an instance, Ichijou felt a slight doubt in his heart. The possibility that he was about to make a horrible mistake swam through his mind, and an unpleasant feeling ran up his spine. It was an uneasiness that he had not felt since before he became a detective. That was how strong the girl’s innocence appeared to be to Ichijou.

But Ichijou managed to throw it off and continued to inform Rin.

“Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to prove that.”

“Please, that’s enough!”

Once again, Ogawa cutted in, this time holding back Rin with her arms.

“Then what do you want us to do?”
 

That response belonged to Mika.

“Show that she doesn’t have a tattoo. Take off all of her clothes right now.”

“Do you realize what you’re saying right now…!?”

“It’s fine, Oga-tan. I’ll take it all off.”

Rin began to undress herself with determination, only to be stopped by Ogawa with a “Please stop, Rin!” as she glared at Mika.

“You don’t have a warrant or anything like that, this is just some arbitrary investigation of yours, isn’t it? I can sue you for violation of human rights!”

“Don’t you understand that the 32805 people attending the concert may very well be murdered!?”

“That will not happen! Rin is a sweet girl, she could never do something like that! Please, just leave!”

Forced out of the agency, Ichijou and Mika had to abandon their pursuit as they returned to the former Investigation Headquarters.

“I can’t believe this! We should have just dragged her to a hospital and get a CT scan!”

“Calm down, Natsume-kun. After seeing that manager’s behavior, I’m about completely convinced that she’s indeed an Unidentified Lifeform. But if we would have continued to question them at that point, it’s possible we would have lost our chance.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Rin Togibe offered her body for examination. We may have pushed her to do so, but she had the confidence not to back down. Tattoos can be removed to a certain extent, and it’s possible that she would have a CT scan malfunction or something similar. If she ended up clearing any suspicions at that point, further pursuit would become even harder.”

Sugita came in with an unpleasant face.

“The higher-ups scolded me, telling me to tone things down. Damn it, looks like the agency sent some complaints.”

“Does that really matter?”

As usual, Mika displayed her stubbornness.

“But they requested for the SP(Security Police Division, an organization separate from the police department) to handle the security for the dome. In other words, they’re telling us to keep our heads out of it. It’s becoming tougher and tougher to continue our investigation.”

“Since it’s come to this…”

Mika lifted her face with determination.

“I’ll have to join the maid squad.”

“Huh!?”

Ichijou was quite surprised as well.

“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden, Natsume-kun? The maid squad…?”

“They’re the backstage dancers for Rin. If I can manage to mix myself in with them, it’ll be a chance for me to get closer to her.”

“And just how will you do that?”

“Back at the agency, I spotted an ID card on the desk and secretly snapped a picture of it. It’s one of those simple ones that just hang from your neck, so if I just make one that looks just like it, I’ll have no trouble fitting in.”

“Well, I suppose the Security Police might mistake you for one of the other 17 or 18 maids, but…”

Suddenly a “Good evening!” rang out into the room, as a woman came in wearing glasses that had eyes brimming with an intellectual brilliance behind them. Her long hair was bundled behind her head, and she wore a very simple and plain outfit with pants. It was clear that she did not care much for fashion. She was the scientist Hikari Enokida.

“Oh, you’re here, Enokida. On the phone, you didn’t sound any different from before, but it I see that you also don’t look any different!”

Enokida responded to Sugita with “You liar” and headed straight towards Ichijou.

“It’s been so long, Ichijou-kun!”

“Yes, it has.”

“You somehow have a stronger presence. You’ve still been working out, huh?”

As Enokida began throwing punches at his chest, Mika came in and interrupted her.

“Excuse me, I’m Ichijou-san’s subordinate, Natsume. It’s a pleasure to be working with you.”

“Ooh, you’ve gotten such a cute one here! I’m Enokida, nice to meet you!”

“Hold on a sec’ Natsume, aren’t you MY subordinate?”

Ignoring Sugita’s retort, Mika inquired towards Enokida.

“Enokida-san, you’ve been working on developing new anti-Unidentified Lifeform equipment, right?”

“Yep, I wanted to pass it over as soon as possible so I flew in here. Look!”

She opened up her attache case to reveal the new nerve-breaking bullets.

“These were based off the flechettes used in the armor penetration ammunition of tanks! ...Although I suppose you wouldn’t understand what that means. Well, basically, inside the bullet are a bunch of little tiny needles that really boost its penetration ability. The tiny needles then enter the body and spread out, and nanomachines activate and explode. They’re 25 times more effective than the bullets used here!”

“You never fail to amaze me, Enokida-san.”

Ichijou was quick to react.

“You know, it was actually my son who gave me a hint, after transitioning from a railroad maniac to an anime maniac to a military maniac.”

“Sayuru-kun?”

“Yep, he’s already attending university now. Well, I suppose him growing up without asking helped out in the long run.”

“Without asking, you say?”

Ichijou let out a wry smile without thinking. He knew that she was just trying to be modest, but he couldn’t help but be amused at how much it was like her to say something like that.

“Jean helped with that a lot too, I suppose.”

Mika was surprised hearing that name.

“Jean-san… Are you talking about Jean Michel Sorrel?”

“Eh? Oh, I see! You’re Professor Natsume’s daughter, right?”

“Yes! Jean-san and the excavation team helped me out a lot back then. But, what kind of relationship do you have with him?”

“Hmm? Oh, we’re just friends. He left a good really influence, but he’s returned to his country.”

Sugita then put his hand on her shoulder.

“It looks like you’ve been through a lot too.”

But Enokida swatted his hand away saying “When you do that, it feels like sexual harassment”. Her expression then grew more serious as she continued speaking.

“More importantly though, I still have a lot to report to all of you.”

She was referring to the analyses Sugita had requested from her. First, it was discovered that an extremely miniscule lifeform had mimicked one of the parts in the oxygen capsules’ pumps. Naturally, Ichijou and the rest were surprised by that finding. If they assumed Nakata was an Unidentified Lifeform, then it could be that he implanted a part of his body into the pumps that would activate a malfunction, and then replaced it back with the original part.

Next, in regards to the jellyfish toxin, after further thorough examination, some interesting details came to light. Normally, jellyfish toxin, in other words the allergen, has a very stable molecular structure. But for whatever reason, the toxin that was extracted proved to be very unstable, and had the ability to easily mix in with other substances. When allergens enter a human’s body, the immunity globins activate and bind to the invading viruses. However, the allergens that were extracted caused the immunity globins that binded to them to morph into another substance, causing excess immunity system responses in the body to occur.

Furthermore, upon binding with the faint trace of sulfuric acid aluminum found in tap-water, a deadly poison known as Secidohilbin is formed. Secidohilbin has the ability to cause anaphylactic shock even though percutaneous absorption, with a fatality rate of near 100 percent. In other words, mere contact with an aqueous solution containing that poison can cause death.

“So she really was planning to kill the entire audience with that water tank climax event!”

Mika responded immediately. Once the fans start cheering for “RIN Togibe”, the countdown to their deaths would begin. Since it had come to this, they no longer had any choice. Everyone in that room felt the strong desire to just march up to that stage and destroy the water tank. But they understood that they would have no chance unless they managed to corner Rin Togibe first. After being ordered by Sugita to find any evidence that could incriminate Rin Togibe’s identity as an Unidentified Lifeform, Ichijou and Mika once again set off to investigate. 37 hours remained until Rin Togibe’s concert. The concert’s staff would be beginning their rehearsal at 5 AM on that day. The 3 hours between the rehearsal’s end and the concert’s start would be their only chance to settle things for good.

Right before parting ways after exiting the police department, Mika spoke to Ichijou quietly without looking at him.

“If we happen to find ourselves at a dead end, Godai-san will come help us….I’m sure of it.”

Without looking at Mika either, Ichijou responded.

“Even so, I must persevere. We need to put an end to them due to our responsibility as police officers...that’s our top priority.”

Mika parted ways from Ichijou in silence.

And Ichijou did the same without looking back.

Mika focused on the areas related to Rin, asking if anyone knew anything about her tattoo. Starting with the hair and makeup artist, she questioned every prominent staff member she could find. Unfortunately, they all claimed they knew nothing about it, and Mika’s search failed to strike the core of the investigation.

Mika then decided to head to where Rin spent her days as a middle school student. There were many famous stories on how much of a troublemaker she was during those days. Normally, these details would be explored as rumors through articles from weekly magazines and such, but Rin actually fully admitted the truth right from the start. She said that that was her true self, and that was why she decided to live brightly from then on, in order not to cause her mother trouble any longer. And thus, her current dazzling smile represented the brightness she had returned to her life. She started out with gaining the favor of those who resented her, and now being successful enough to host a grand scale concert of over 30,000 people with tickets selling out instantly.

In that area, many boys claimed that Rin had often skipped class at that school with her classmates.

“She doesn’t have a tattoo. There’s no way. Yeah, it’s true she hanged out with a bad crowd, but there’s no way she would have gotten one.”

“Why is that?”

“She’s mentioned it all the time. That tattoos were a no-go for her, that it would be the most definite way of making her mom sad.”

“...I see.”

“It was not long after that she stopped coming around here, she became really close with her mom. Whenever we happened to see her on the street, she would act like she didn’t know us. It was really surprising.”

On the other hand, Ichijou had contacted Tsubaki and asked him for details on the tattoos of Unidentified Lifeforms. Tsubaki informed him that medically speaking, they were not tattooes. They were collections of concentrated skin pigments, very similar to a mole or a birthmark.

“It might be possible to remove it using leather, but it’d only be a matter of time before it comes back up again. As was detailed in the documents, the tattoo will most likely be shaped as the lifeform the monster form is based off of.”

Ichijou then began talking with homeless men who knew about the underground world and gathered information. He learned that the parent company of Rin’s agency had connections with the dark market, along with an interesting rumor. Apparently there had been a freelance cameraman that had his murder covered up under the pretense of suicide. This man who had been stalking Rin in the hopes of finding a scandalous scoop to blackmail her agency, took a picture depicting a tattoo mark between her buttocks and thighs by chance. He then used that information against the agency, and demanded compensation for keeping it a secret. The homeless man told Ichijou that he could obtain the photograph for 20 million yen. However, the man owed Ichijou a debt. That is to say, it was just that Ichijou solved a corrupt bribery case that the man was involved in. However, the man had his life being chased after in the underground world, and he was convinced that Ichijou had acted to save his life and promised to repay the debt to him some day. Ichijou asked if today could be the day he repay his debt, and thus, Ichijou finally obtained proof that Rin Togibe had a jellyfish-shaped mark on her body. Without doubt, Rin Togibe was a Grongi.

Regardless, Ichijou continued to warn Mika.

“However, the government won’t expect this as decisive proof of Rin Togibe being a Grongi. It’s just a confirmation of our beliefs.”

“So you’re saying it’s just a reference point for us…”

“Right. Unless Rin Togibe reveals her true form, we won’t be able to fire on her. That’s an absolute rule us officers must follow.”

“Understood.”

Once Mika responded so, the time had reached 4 AM of the day of the concert.

After cooperating with the Tokorozawa security in charge of the concert grounds behind the scene, plans were made to keep the attendants out of the concert until the very last second. As Mika had previously declared, she made thorough arrangements in her plans to sneak into the concert disguised as a maid. Under the pretense that she had left to retrieve something she forgot in the parking lot, she would manage to bypass the entrance. And until the concert was to open, Mika was to focus on getting as close as possible to Rin, in hopes of catching her in her transformed state. She was to keep Ichijou and Sugita, who would be on standby, up to date with every little detail over wireless radio.

After finishing preparations, Mika’s appearance after changing into her maid outfit was perfect. The mic was hidden behind the chestpiece, and a bone conduction earphone was tucked behind her ear. Unless you actually knew they were there, no one would be able to tell.

“Rin Togibe may reveal her identity to murder me. If I claim that something has happened, don’t hesitate to storm in.”

Mika spoke clearly.

Even though it was summer, Ichijou’s mind flashbacked to that snowstorm scenery. The smiling face of that man who told him to shoot him if anything happened.

Behind Mika, Ichijou could see that man’s back overlapping with hers. But Ichijou did not have the time for sentimentalism right now. He stationed officers dressed in civilian clothing in various areas, in preparation for whatever incident that may occur.

At 6:02:53 AM, Mika successful infiltrated the concert grounds.

Ichijou could hear various sounds mixed together coming from his earphone. A man giving out some kind of order. A “Good morning!” greeting coming from a girl. Eventually, the voices of anxious fans approaching the grounds could be heard. Particularly anxious fans had been waiting in front of the concert since the evening beforehand, in preparation for the pre-show merchandise sales. A report came in from the Tokorozawa security saying that if need be, they may have to open the concert early.

But Mika had yet to find Rin.

During their investigation before the operation, they had obtained information stating that right before the start of a concert, Rin would request to be alone in order for her to gather her concentration together. It was unknown if that activity had anything to do with her being an Unidentified Lifeform. Rin’s dressing room was located underneath the stadium’s third base, in the director’s room. The path reaching there was unsurprisingly filled with authorized staff, proving entry to be difficult.

It was around 6:27 AM when Mika noticed changes in the situation. She contacted Ichijou with a quiet “Ichijou-san”.

“What is it?”

“There’s been some commotion starting among the staff. They can’t seem to find the manager Ogawa anywhere.”

“She’s not with Rin Togibe?”

“Doesn’t look like it. The situation is quite irregular right now. The staff is getting really anxious.”

Just what could be going on, thought Ichijou as an unpleasant feeling went through his mind. But the staff’s momentary state of confusion allowed Mika a chance to sneak in.

“Ichijou-san, the staff’s eyes aren’t looking this way anymore. I’ll be heading in.”

“Have you readied your gun?”

“Yes, everything’s set.”

Ichijou heard Mika knocking on the door to the director’s room. He was not able to hear Rin’s response, but he could hear Mika’s “Excuse me, do you have a moment?”. Ichijou met eyes with Sugita, who was next to him, and they shared their nervousness.

“Oh, you’re one of the members of the maid squad. What is it?”

Rin Togibe’s bright cheerful tone then suddenly changed.

“Oh, it’s you. That detective from the other day. What’s with you wearing that maid outfit? Don’t tell me you’ve become one of my fans.”

“Of course not.”

“Then you’re trespassing. Even though you’re a detective.”

“Everyone’s been stressing out since Ogawa-san isn’t here, but you seem to be just fine.”

“Oga-tan? Well of course she’s not here.”

“What do you mean?”

“She wouldn’t stop bugging me ever since that day. Saying stuff like ‘You’ll make the concert a success, right?’ or ‘You won’t do anything strange, right?’”

“Ogawa must have sensed it as well then...that you were planning to do something.”

“But she said that she believed me. She said that we’ve grown really close, that we’d do anything for each other. How retarded is that? There’s no way that’d be the case. I had to endure through 2 years of this just for today.”

“Where is Ogawa-san?”

Mika put force behind those words. But Rin responded with a snarky tone.

“Who knows? Maybe she wanted to go somewhere far away? Being a manager is tough work, after all.”

“I want a proper answer.”

“What, that’s not proper enough for you?”

“Tell me where Ogawa-san is right now.”

“You know, I really liked Oga-tan. The company president too. They let me into their agency without caring what kind of girl I was.”

“...You mean they let you in even though you were an Unidentified Lifeform?”

Ichijou and Sugita’s tension shot up, but Mika and Rin’s conversation continued without incident.

“Throwing a fastball, now?”

“We don’t have any more time.”

“Fufu, how interesting. Since I’ve grown to like you, I’ll tell you a little something. Your reasoning was riiiight on the mark.”

Ichijou looked towards Sugita with impatience, but Sugita lifted his hand to signify that they should wait just a bit longer.

“So you really were a Grongi.”

“Yep. But unfortunately, this is where our chat comes to an end. After all, you guys don’t have the power to suspend this concert. I’m not going to reveal myself.”

“You’re revealing yourself to me right now, aren’t you?”

“That’s no problem, since you’ll be heading to the same place Oga-tan went.”

Hearing those words, even Ichijou and Sugita did not need to let Mika know of the ensuing danger.

“! So you’re saying…!”

“Fufufu. Just what could I be referring to?”

“Stay back. Get any closer and I’ll shoot!”

“Can you really? I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed the right to do THAT!”

Right as that sentence finished, a clang-like sound could be heard.

“U-Ugh...gah…”

Hearing Mika’s grown as she struggled to even make a single word, it was apparent that Rin had materialized her feeler and grabbed Mika’s throat with it after knocking away her gun.

Sugita restrained the Security Police stationed at the gate while shaking off the staff, and Ichijou ran. He began to grow increasingly uneasy. As he was running, he shouted to any passers-by to run away. There was no telling what would happen if Rin started wreaking havoc. Throughout all of this, Ichijou could hear her voice coming from his earpiece.

“I’ll tell you the secret to the Rin-chan Call. ‘Rin Togibe’...’Rinto Gibe’...’Linto Gibe’... It means, there’s no point for the Linto to live, so might as well kill them all!”

“...Urgh!”

Ichijou ran. He knew he would have to end up scuffling with the brawny Security Police, but he had to get through. In his ear, he could hear Mika’s voice.

“Ichijou-san...I’m sorry…!”

She was possibly apologizing for losing her life while not being able to achieve her goal.

“You idiot! Don’t give up now, Natsume-kun!”

At that moment, a large sound rang out as the Nishiki Dome’s stand began crumbling apart. For whatever reason, the upper area of the director’s room was falling apart. Fighting against the fleeing staff, Ichijou ran in. Within the dark corridor, dense clouds of dust began building up. After rushing past it, he came into an area with light shining in. Suddenly, a piece of rubble made impact with Ichijou’s head, and he fell to the floor. But even so, Ichijou mustered back his strength and got back up. Doing so, he saw two silhouettes within the dust clouds. Standing on one side was a jellyfish-shaped Unidentified Lifeform. And standing on the other was...a white Kuuga.

“Godai…!”

Ichijou then blacked out and succumbed to unconsciousness.